On November 30, a concert was held to mark the 45th anniversary of the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education.

The heads of the offices, the directors of the institutes, the deans of the faculties, the university teaching staff, the undergraduates, the alumni, the veterans, and the friends of the faculty gathered in the Assembly Hall, SSU Bldg. 10.

The hosts of the gala evening were Associate Professor of the Department of Special Needs Education Ekaterina Gorina and a student Vasilii Kalashnikov.

The festival started with an incendiary dance, during which the letters PPiSO appeared on the stage. The programme of the event was based on a number of letters of the “alphabet” – the guests travelled through the pages of the history and life of the faculty.

At the beginning of the celebration ceremony, the dean of the faculty Tatyana Firsova addressed the audience. ‘All those gathered in this hall and our alumni are involved in this event. You are our friends. Each of you is connected with the faculty by your own warm thread – study, work, life. We are turning 45 years old today – is it a lot or a little? Of course, on the historic scale, this is a grain of salt. If we recall the words of a famous thinker that life is measured not by dates, but by emotions and impressions, then we have come a long way. From one to ten departments, from one course to twenty-six. Our journey has been full of bright events, ups and downs, trials and errors. But the most important thing is that our faculty consists of extraordinary people who, with their lives, work, and fate, have been writing the very pages of history that we invite you all to turn over together today!’

The greeting from SSU Rector Aleksei Chumachenko was read by Vice-Rector for Secondary Vocational Education and Social Work Olga Nesterova. ‘The history of your faculty is a whole epoch, a change of times and generations, years of work, transformations, bright destinies of the teaching staff and students with their achievements and victories. During this time, the faculty has undergone many changes, but has remained faithful to its main mission – to train modern school teachers who not only study the basics of science with their pupils, but also teach them how to communicate and be creative – prepare them to be successful in everything. All these years, the faculty has continued moving forward. The main source of this movement was and still is the enormous work and dedication of the scientific and pedagogical staff – young enthusiasm and a desire for new things.’

Head of Priority Projects and Programmes Elena Yelina also joined to the congratulations. ‘Your faculty is amazing and unique – only you are engaged in the Russian language, literature, mathematics, biology, physics, psychology, and special needs sciences. The educational unit is very visible in all areas that are important to the university. We see how much demand there is for the professions that students are taught. In order the applicant rate to be so high, the faculty is making tremendous efforts, a lot of work is done. We have just been pleased to learn that the representatives of your faculty have won new grants from Russian Science Foundation. Of course, all our pedagogical projects that are implemented as part of the Priority 2030 programme would be impossible and unrealistic without your faculty.’

A musical gift was presented by the Light SSU band led by Sophia Abramova with the piercing song Samsara. The audience switched on flashlights to the beat of the melody and swung them over themselves.

Chair of the Commission on Juvenile Affairs and Protection of Their Rights under the regional government Julia Vasilyeva and Director of the Centre for Education Development in Saratov Victoria Gavrilyuk addressed their congratulations, with the latter reading out a welcome address from Acting Chair of the Education Committee Larisa Zhivtsova.

A colourful gift for the guests was the Viennese waltz by Maxim Borisov and Ksenia Gorbunova-Guseva to the song We Choose, We Are Chosen from the Big Break film.

A film about the student life of a first-year student of the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education was shown on the screen, which presented a friendly team of the teaching staff and undergraduates to the audience. In the footage, the guests saw a video survey of young people about the role of teachers, found out about the courses of the educational unit. In the second part of the video, the viewers recalled the history of the faculty from 1978 to the present day.

Next, the audience watched a video with the teaching staff who told them what work at the faculty means to them, explained what the value of training future teachers is for them. Alina Yegorova brilliantly continued the event with the warm and unifying song Million Voices.

The university community was widely represented at the celebration ceremony. The SSU directors of the institutes and the deans of the faculties took the stage. Dean of the Faculty of Sociology Sergei Ivchenkov read out a congratulatory address from all of them. ‘With love, patience, and understanding, graduate teachers have been coming to teach children for almost half a century. For more than one year, the faculty specialists have been training highly professional personnel for the most important spheres of public life. For many years, the faculty has been a full member of the fraternal family of the SSU faculties and institutes.’

A musical gift from the Institute of Arts was vividly presented by Daria Zubkova with masterful saxophone playing the song Venus by the Shocking blue band.

The place of honour in the first row was taken by the veterans of the faculty, who, with their selfless work, had written quite a lot of pages in the book of the higher school. A new generation of students gave these teachers flowers and memorable gifts. After that, Anna Chernyshova and Anastasia Pasekova performed a colourful Russian folk dance.

The audience also remembered those who had passed away – the teaching staff members who had shared their experience to more than one generation of future teachers. A minute of silence was announced, and everyone stood up. The photos of the teaching staff who had left us appeared on the screen, and touching Song from a secret garden was playing.

Then the hosts listed many congratulatory addresses from other universities and educational organisations, partners from Uralsk (Kazakhstan), Baranovichi (Belarus), Faiyum (Egypt), St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, and other cities.

A pleasant musical gift was presented by the staff of the Tabakov Palace of Arts for Children and Youth. The Bell band of Saratov harmonics showed the audience an original performance item.

The exciting sign language song Everything Depends on Ourselves was presented by the team of Sunlight Boarding School No. 3 of Engels and students of the faculty.

The alumni of different years and courses of the faculty also had come to the celebration. From the stage, they expressed their sincere gratitude, shared stories about why they cherish the memories of student life. They presented memorable gifts to their alma mater.

The Inspiration inclusive dance team, led by a graduate of the faculty Anatolii Timofeyev, presented the audience a beautiful dance to the musical accompaniment of Louis Armstrong's melody What a Wonderful World.

Then a student Ksenia Abramova came on stage with the song I Am Us. Next, the ArT-mix modern choreography team was invited to perform an inspiring ethnic dance accompanied by a song by a Yakut singer Saina.

At the end of the concert, the anthem of the faculty was performed. The teaching staff and students took to the stage who performed it together to the tune of the song The Main Thing in the World is Our Children.

The voices of favourite teachers and the younger generation of students intertwined brightly, warmly, and sincerely, ‘Together we are a family!’